Yasinya
was part of the Kingdom of Hungary (11th century - 1920 and 1938-1944) with the name of Körösmezö
in Máramaros megye (county), next part of Czechoslovakia (1920-1938) with the name of Jasiňa
in Podkarpatská Rus (Sub-Carpathia), then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1945-1991) with the name of Yasinya and, since 1991, known as Yasinya, in the Rakhovsky (Rakhovs'kyy) rayon (district) of Zakarpats'ka oblast (county) of Ukraine.

Other spellings/names for Yasinya are Jassinja, Jasinia, Jaszinya, Jasinja, Iasinia, Yasina, Korösmezo and Kereshmeze. In Yiddish, Yasinya was referred to as Iasin
.

Jews probably settled in Yasinya during the first half of the 18th century, afterwards abandoning the town and returning in the early 19th century.

In 1830, the Jewish population was 21.

In 1877, the population of Yasinya was 6,391 and comprised the following religions: Roman Catholic (703), Greek Catholic (4,898), Agnostic (2), Reformed (2) and Jewish (786 or 12% of the total population).

In 1930, during the period of the Czechoslovakian Republic, the Jewish population grew to 1,471. Most Jewish children attended a Czech state school, receiving their religious education in a Cheder and Talmud Torah maintained by the community.

Jews owned eight sawmills, where many Jews also found employment. A number of Jews were public officials, some in senior positions.

After the Hungarian occupation in March, 1939, the Jews were cut off from their sources of livelihood and in 1940-41, many young people were drafted into the Hungarian forced labor battalions and sent to the eastern front, where many died.

In 1941, the Jewish population was 1,403.

Then in August, 1941, about 300 local Jews, some complete families, were expelled to Kamenets-Podolski in Ukraine, where they were murdered—together with thousands of other Jews from the area—who similarly lacked Hungarian citizenship.

In October, 1943, several local Jews joined a partisan group formed in the surrounding forests.

The Germans took over the town in March, 1944 and established a ghetto and a Judenrat (Jewish Council).

In late April, 1944, the remaining Jews in Yasinya were rounded up and forceably moved to the ghetto and in mid-May, 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz where many were murdered.

A few Jews from Yasinya joined the Czechoslovakian army—created in the Soviet Union—and fought against the Nazis on the eastern front.

After the war, a few dozen survivors returned to Yasinya.

Today, Yasinya has about 7,708 inhabitants (2004). A number of Rusyns/Ruthenians, Ukrainians and Hungarians still live there. A great number of the Jews of Yasinya were murdered in the Holocaust and only one Jew in known to still live there today. (2011)

Sources (portions):The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, (2001), p. 565

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